Random – Page 7 – My Random Ramblings

Damn you, Leonardo!!!

October 15, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, RandomTagged Da Vinci, Leonardo Da Vinci, Vitruvius2 Comments

Leonardo Da Vinci has a lot to answer for, or should I say the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius does. Vitruvius said the human was the ‘principal source of proportion within the classical orders of architecture’ (thanks Wikipedia!). The body was broken down into measurable proportions against known standards, and it was said that Vitruvius used these proportions within his architectural designs. Leonardo Da Vinci drew the picture which you see above, commonly known as The Vitruvian Man. Leonardo loved maths, and had a keen interest in matters of proportion, so he sought to solve the problem of how to ‘square a circle’, that is, draw a circle with the same area as that of a square. Da Vinci showed how this was possible with the ‘Vitruvian Man’ – using a compass fixed on the human navel, you can draw a circle that perfectly encompasses the body. Similarly, he recognised that arm-span is almost identical to the height of a person, therefore placing the human body perfectly within a square. So essentially he solved the problem of ‘squaring a circle’ metaphorically. The drawing had much bigger implications, however, encompassing geometry, religion, and even philosophy. It is an interesting concept, and thanks to the power of the interweb, you can find out loads more about it, should you be so inclined.

So….. why am I telling you this, and why am I damning Da Vinci, a veritable God among men? Well, to be honest, it really has nothing to do with anything except for the name, and actually I think Da Vinci is pretty amazing, and I don’t really hold anything against him. However, in a fit of madness this morning, I’ve signed up for the Vitruvian Triathlon in Leicestershire next August. It is a half-iron distance event, with a 1900m swim, 85km bike ride followed by a 21km run. If the Roman architect hadn’t been so obsessed with proportion, and Da Vinci so clever, maybe the Vitruvian Man wouldn’t exist, so maybe the Vitruvian Triathlon would not exist either, and I wouldn’t be in for months of hard graft in the pool, on the bike and out along my local running paths. Ah well, such is life! 😉

I must admit I’m slightly terrified at the thought of doing this race – it won’t be easy. At the moment, my focus is on the Big Sur marathon, and in the immediate future, that won’t change. However, I’ll need to reassess my training as we get into winter, as I’ll need to start introducing more cycling (by more I mean ‘some’), and get back to the pool for more than just a quick paddle then 30 mins in the spa pool……

Anyway, that’s for worrying about later. For now, I just need to try to ignore the irony of signing up for an event named after a human body more proportioned than I could ever hope mine to be. At the moment my stomach is the approximate shape of a large sphere, but that’s about the only tenuous correlation I can find.

At least now I have something else to aim for. Vitruvian Woman, here I come……

Happy days 🙂

Counting Chickens

October 13, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, Random

Well in my last post, I was striving for consistency. I promised to report back after a couple of weeks, so here I am.

So, have I attained the Holy Grail of training? That is, has the pre-marathon-training training plan gone to plan (try saying that quickly!)? Yes! Amazingly, it has. I say ‘amazingly’ because if I’m honest, I wasn’t actually sure I’d be able to make it. I’ve never been brilliant at sticking to training plans, in fact, the only time I have is the very first time I ran a half marathon, the Great Cumbrian Run in 2007. At the time, running that far seemed like such an impossibility (and often still does, if I’m honest!), that I felt I needed to find a plan and stick to it closely, otherwise I didn’t have a hope of making it to the end. So I found a plan, stuck to it, and lo and behold, it worked!! Who knew?!

So, as mentioned previously, I’ve found a training plan to lead me into the marathon training plan (you know, that hard-to-say-really-quickly plan I mentioned a second ago). The plan calls for 4 runs a week, and I’m pleased to say I’ve managed to get them all in. I’ve even managed to get the Wednesday runs in at 6am, before work, which I would never normally do (due to being overly lazy and uncommitted). Success!!! I’ve also been logging everything on Training Peaks, so it is there in black and white (well, green and red) for me to see. As proof, here is my run chart for the last two weeks:

(and no, I didn’t just create this in excel, or fake the workouts, honest! *insert pic of me with halo* )

So as you can see, the distances are pretty short, but I’m managing to keep up, so I’m pleased with that.

Of course, i’m keenly aware that I’ve been here before – everything goes well for a couple of weeks, then BOOM, the sofa attacks me, holds me captive and is deaf to my screeching cries of ‘LET ME GO I NEED TO GO RUNNING!!!!!!’. Okay, so parts of that last sentence may be a lie……

Anyway, as the title of this post suggests, I don’t want to count my chickens before they’ve hatched – I know only too well I’ll need to commit to completing the next two weeks successfully, and consistently, especially since I’m going to get a bit more tired. Even though the distances are not huge, running four times a week is new to me (I shouldn’t really be admitting this since I’ve already been marathon training this year, but then again, my blistering time (guffaw!) at The Outlaw probably didn’t have anyone thinking I was running that much anyway!), so I’ll need to maintain the effort to keep with the plan.

I’m confident that I’m going to do it though. If ever I think that I can’t be bothered, I’ll just think of the Big Sur marathon, and how important it is to me that I finish the race and get that medal. So my next mini-goal is to complete the next two weeks of running training, and not missing a run. Pretty simple, and a small goal, but I think small steps are helping.

It might be harder now, however, because I’ve also engaged a personal trainer (not in the marital sense), and I’ll be doing one session a week with him, which will be great, but will of course make me more tired (and make my muscles hurt), so I’ll need to be extra determined not to ditch the running. The trainer is fully aware of my Big Sur dreams, and is gearing the plan around weight loss and getting my body working properly in order to help with the running. I’ve had one session so far, and I absolutely LOVED it. It was tough, but manageable, but also a lot of fun. I’ve waffled on enough for now, so I’ll talk about the PT sessions in my next post, and also confess to a couple of other little goals I want to set myself. Oh, and before forget, I’ve managed to keep up the gym attendance too:

Happy days 🙂 Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks.

Striving for consistency

September 29, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, Random1 Comment

I’ve been meaning to write another post for ages, but I was never very sure what to write. To be honest I’ve just not thought I had anything worth writing down. Why? Well, partly because I’ve been trying to get myself ‘on track’, health and fitness wise, and I often feel like as soon as I report a good week, I’ve put pressure on myself, as if I’m saying “I’ve cracked it!!! No need to worry, everything will go swimmingly from now on”. Queue a shitty following week, full of good intentions, lack of action and a spectacular tumble off the wagon into the cake-myre again. So I was hesitant to write anything about how I’m getting on, lest it signal another rapid spiral into loserville, and head-hanging trudge back to the start.

So, in writing this now, does this mean that yes, I have finally cracked it, and 4 weeks later I’m now a size zero and in no need of this blog? Eh, not quite. However, I have made some progress, even if it doesn’t quite seem to be showing on the scales just yet. So what have I done?

Well, so that not everything in my life if focussed on weight-loss targets, I set myself the target of getting to the gym 3 times per week, and I’ve managed it!

(…and no, I didn’t just create this in Excel. Honest!)

Having joined in the last week of August, I’ve managed to go three times a week since. I can honestly say I’ve been to the gym more in the past 5 weeks than I have in the last two years, and more importantly, I’m enjoying it. I’ve been swimming, running, taking taster classes in the how to get the most out of TRX, ViPR, and Kettlebells, and I’ve attended a couple of body balance classes. The amazing thing is, I’ve not had to force myself to go. I really, really enjoy it. First time for everything I suppose!!

I’ve also signed up for a 12-week course where we get meal plans (Paleo-based, which is fantastic, and pretty progressive for a big corporate gym I’d say!), a weekly weigh-in as part of a meeting where we talk about food and nutrition, and finally go to one group exercise session a week. So far, so good. Second weigh-in tomorrow, so fingers crossed. Honestly though, the scales aren’t showing big changes, although my legs feel like they’re shaping up a little. So clearly while I’m doing better than I was, in terms of diet and exercise, I can tighten it up, eat ‘cleaner’, train smarter. I can do better. I tell you what though, I’m sleeping like a log, and for an extra hour or so a night, so that’s good!

So that’s what I have been doing; what’s next? Well, the plan for the next few weeks is to just tighten up where I can, and make sure I’m making the right choices for my health. One reason I wanted to try to get the consistency going on the exercise front is to help with the next stage of my plan for world domination, oh, hang on, wrong blog….eh I mean help with my ultimate goal for next year – running the Big Sur marathon. Next week I’m starting my pre-marathon training plan. Why pre-marathon? Well, I had such a shocking run at The Outlaw this year, that I want to make sure I’m in the best shape I can be (running wise) before I start my ‘official’ marathon training plan. I’ve decided to follow Hal Higdon’s ‘Novice Supreme’ programme to get me to the finish in California. Essentially it is a 12 week plan that eases you into running 4 times a week, and gets you up to 6 miles, which is the shortest long run on the 18 week marathon plan that follows it. If that makes sense! Consistency in training is really important, and something I’ve struggled with in the past. I’m hoping this initial 12 week plan will help me reach this goal. I’ll report back in a couple of weeks, and hopefully be telling you about the 8 training runs I’ve done since this post. Watch this space.

Oh one final thing. As I’m sitting typing this, I keep stopping to stretch my upper back which feels like it has been run over by a truck. Yesterday, I had a free 30-minute Personal Training session at the gym, and having spoken to the instructor after the weekly group exercise session, I said I really wanted to work on deadlifts, and making sure I had the correct technique. If you don’t know what a deadlift is, it is essentially this ☟

(thanks to Google for the picture! Do you think he lifted it right up?? Let’s hope he did it without bursting a vein)

The weight is lifted off the floor to hip height, then gradually lowered down to the floor again, using a controlled movement. Okay, so I wasn’t lifting quite that much, but you can get the gist of what I was attempting. Anyway, short story long, I managed to lift three sets of 50kg, then finally 60kg for three reps. Chi-ching!! I was really happy with that, considering I’ve not done this exercise for a long time. Clearly my visits to the gym have been having some effect which is good. The upshot of all this of course is that the Trapezius muscles in my back are sore. Not in a twinge-ing pain way, just a ‘OMG I’ve not used those muscles for years’ kind of way. My legs and glutes are not too bad, so another thumbs-up to the gym work i’ve been doing recently. Fingers crossed I can move tomorrow!!!

Anyway, i’ve waffled on enough. Time to go and plan the next week’s activities to make sure I hit that nail on the head, consistently.

Happy days 🙂

Bitten by a ViPR

August 28, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, Random

In my new found enthusiasm for the gym, I’ve found myself signing up for lots of taster sessions to try different bits of equipment. Initially I signed up to a PowerPlate taster session for tonight, in the hope of learning how to use it to maximise the effects of post-workout stretching. When I signed up on Monday, however, Wednesday seemed like an age away, so I got a bit over enthusiastic and phoned the gym yesterday to sign up for a ViPR taster.

Now, having been to the gym for years…hang-on, I’ll re-phrase that…. Having paid to go to a gym for years but not often bothered, I was aware of the name ViPR, but never quite got round to asking what the hell this oddly named bit of equipment was. However, I had used a strange rubber tube contraction (see pic above) to do shoulder presses before, clearly without knowing that this was the fabled ViPR in question. Who knew!! God only knows where they get the names from, but having signed up for a 30 min class last night, now I know. You couldn’t be in more pain if you survived accidentally walking through a nest of real vipers, and they all bit you on the arse.

‘Only thirty minutes!’ I joyfully thought to myself as I bounded up the stairs for the gym. A quick 10 minute warm-up on the cross trainer, and I was ready to go.

I’m still trying to figure out what evils I committed in a past life to deserve the general all-over body pain I now have to day; I’ll let you know if I figure it out. Within about 3 minutes I was sweating like 10 proverbial pigs. Thinking back (thankfully my brain came away unscathed and isn’t in pain, so at least thinking doesn’t hurt. Well, no more than usual) we only did 4 exercises, and one of those was a stretch. The most galling thing was we only did 15 minutes. FIFTEEN!!!!! Clearly the instructor could see we were broken at that point, so kindly stopped. On the plus side, it obviously works, and clearly I need to persevere with it. For a full body workout with a massive cardio hit to boot, you need look no further. I need to add these evil contraptions to my workout plan, that’s for sure.

….but maybe in a couple of weeks when I can bend down to pick something up off the floor (like my dignity and pride) without spending a good minute working out the best way to get down that far without either crying or just collapsing in a heap.

All I can say is thank the hamstring-Lords above I’ve got 8 days to recover before my kettle bell session. Wish me luck….

One step forward, two steps back?

August 26, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, RandomTagged Cook, Eating, Food, Gym, Physical exercise, Succeed, Sugar9 Comments

I’m a bit late with this post – it should have been written a couple of days ago, but I guess I was putting it off. So here it is, and it shall be delivered using the ‘shit sandwich’ approach – say something nice, deliver the bad news then end on a positive.

So to start with, I’m excited to report that I’ve joined a gym 🙂 I wouldn’t normally associate the words ‘gym’ and ‘excited’ in the same sentence, but wonders will never cease. I have access to a tiny gym at work, and also access to a Health Club close to work, but neither inspire me to go, in all honesty. I know what I’m like – I need to like a gym to want to use it, so over the weekend my friend and I looked a couple of gyms, found one we liked and signed up. We’ve made a pact with each other too – we must go three times a week, and every time we don’t go, we’ve to give a fiver to charity. As much as I do happily support charities, this is one instance where I don’t want to be giving my money away.

Today was the first proper visit where we met (individually) with an instructor to talk about what we want from the gym, and he’s making up a programme. In all honesty though, I’ve got some programmes I can use myself, so the instructor is going to write me out something that I can flesh out with my own stuff. The gym runs a number of taster sessions for various bit of equipment like TRX, ViPR and kettle bells amongst others, so we’ll be signing up for those; first taster session booked for Wednesday. They also run triathlon club sessions that you can sign up to, and Masters Swims, so once I can actually swim a few lengths again without bursting a lung, I’ll be going along to those. They also have an outdoor pool as well as a 25m indoor pool, which I’m really happy about. So I’m looking forward to seeing results 🙂

Now for the shit in the shit sandwich……

I’m sure you can all guess, but after my brilliant first week, having lost a few pounds, I’ve had a rubbish week and ended up practically back where I started. Why? Well, a number of reasons. Despite saying I’d be trying not to have too many ‘weekends of excess’, I had precisely that. Error number one. Following a massively busy weekend, I then didn’t get a chance to do much cooking to make my work lunches, and since I hadn’t given much thought to what I was going to eat that week, I ended up eating not enough of the right things and too much of the wrong things. Errors two and three right there. Lastly I did barely any exercise, just one spin class at the beginning of the week, but nothing else. Laziness and apathy reared their ugly heads because I wasn’t giving enough attention to the food side of things, so energy levels dropped and I didn’t do any more exercise, a vicious cycle perpetuated. Error number four……

So this is usually the point in the game where I throw my arms skyward, and with a pleading wail to the Food Gods above scream, “Why? WHHHHHHHHHY?!” before slouching off cafe-ward to console myself in cake and all things delicious. I’ve been here before. In fact I have a souvenir t-shirt and a cake named after me (have you seen those cakes that look like pigs swimming in a mud bath – that’s me. They are delicious though…… Anyway, I digress….).

So now for the positive ending that is intended to make you forget about the bad news.

As I said, I usually give up at this point, but I’m not going to this time, because I can’t, and I actually don’t want to this time. In my last post I mentioned a list of things I’d been thinking about in no particular order, and as much as they are true, what last week has shown me is that I need order, otherwise I’m going to keep going round in circles and getting nowhere. So in order to try to stop me getting back here, and repeating this post in a couple of weeks, here’s what I’m doing /have done to set me along the right path:

1. Planned my food for the week. I’ve written out what I’m having for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole week (today until next Sunday) and I’ve planned in snacks to take to work (like some hummus and veggies, or fruit and a few nuts etc.). I have most of the ingredients already, and will only need to pick up a couple of staples from the supermarket during the week;

2. Joined the gym. Consistent exercise is key for me, and at the gym I can work on core strength and conditioning. Making a pact with my friend will also help – we don’t want to let each other down. We’ve already planned to go on Wednesday and Friday, and if the weather is nice on Saturday, i’ll probably go in the morning to use the outdoor pool;

3. Taking part in a September 30-day exercise challenge. I’m doing this along with a lot of chums on-line, so the moral support will help me stick with it (the challenge consists of doing daily squats, planks, push-ups and also sit-ups and crunches, but I’m swapping out those last two for swiss ball core stuff, because sit-ups knacker my lower back);

4. Take no money to work. This is essentially what screwed me last week. I take a few quid, go get a coffee but then inevitably get a cake or biscuit to go with it, then I get a sugar spike, and because I hadn’t planned my food, I end up in need of another sugar fix in the afternoon, so either buy something else or head to the shop when I get home and get some sugary treat. I’ll be perfectly honest and say I’ve been doing that for so long that it has become an automatic habit, and I’ve usually done it before I’ve even realised. So I’ve planned some morning and afternoon smacks (I don’t usually eat a snack between breakfast and lunch, but I’m taking one just in case. Even with no money to buy snacks, often colleagues bring cake in, so if I have something to eat instead that’ll help);

5. Tracking my food. I think planning and tracking work really well together. Ideally of course the tracking will just be ticking off all the planned food, but I want to track in case I go off the plan slightly, so I can see it more clearly and nip it in the bud. Tracking alone doesn’t work (at least not for me), and neither does planning, if I don’t track it;

6. Forgive myself the odd slip. This has always killed me in the past – I eat something I shouldn’t, feel wracked with guilt then binge eat and ruin it completely. Realistically I’m not going to give up sugar for ever more – I’ve tried and I can’t do it. I can be sensible though, and allow myself the occasional treat (with the emphasis on the occasional). This is why I want to track as well as plan my food – a couple of treats can lead to a daily (or twice daily) treat if I don’t watch.

7. Remind myself why I’m doing this, daily. My friend Vixx gave me a really good tip to think about why I want to lose weight, and write it down, put it in my wallet or somewhere that I will see it regularly, and remind myself why I want to succeed. So I thought I’d put those reasons on here too…..

I want to be able to look in the mirror and not be ashamed of what looks back
I want to be able to wear anything I want
I want to be fit and strong and reach my goals in sport
I want to finish the Big Sur marathon in April and be really, really proud of what I’ve achieved.
I want to live a long healthy life

I suppose these reasons are fairly generic, but you know if I’d written down why I wanted to lose weight a few years ago, it would have read something along the lines of “look better so I don’t end up single, alone and crying myself to sleep every night because I’m too fat to love”. Okay, so never being one to shy away from the overly dramatic, that does read a bit OTT, but in all honestly that is what I thought my life would lead to if I didn’t lose weight. But of course I always failed because I was thinking I needed to lose weight to make people like me.

Now though, I don’t really give a toss whether I’m too fat to love – I don’t need a bloke to make me feel better about myself, I can do that for me. In fact reading that sentence which would probably have brought me near to tears in the past now makes me laugh a bit, because it is so far away from where my thinking lies now. I want to be fit and strong, able to move in any way I want, able to take part in life and not have to back away from it because I’m worried I can’t keep up or that I’ll be too out of breath or look ridiculous. The only person i’m doing this for is me. No-one else. I’m writing this blog to make me accountable, not to please anyone else.

The funny thing is that I absolutely HATE someone telling me (or implying) that I can’t do something, that I’m not capable, but for years I’ve been telling myself I can’t succeed at losing weight. At the place I’ve recently started going spinning, I asked what nights the classes were on, and the girl behind the counter told me about all the classes I could do but then said “…oh but not Thursday’s class”. I could feel my hackles rising so asked why not? “It is a really tough class”. I said I’d been doing spin for a few years, but was told this was probably too hard. Queue the red mist…. The thing is, it might very well be too tough for me, but she looked at me, saw I was fat and made an assumption. Maybe I shouldn’t really blame her for that reaction, but I wouldn’t take it in any other part of my life when someone tried to tell me I can’t do something. However, I’ve let such thoughts become a self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to my weight. Well no more; this time I need to prove myself right – I can do, and I will succeed.

So I think although I’ve taken one step forward, i’ve not taken two steps back, just one. Weight wise i’m back at the start, but psychologically i’ve moved forward, and that, for me, is the important thing. I can re-lose that weight, and I will.

Happy days 🙂

Off to a good start…..

August 16, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, RandomTagged Eating, Fat, Health, Sugar, Support, Weight, Weight loss7 Comments

Well after last week’s ‘ARGGGG I’M TOO FAT!!!!’ post, I promised I’d report back on how this first week of ‘trying to be better’ has turned out. Not too badly, as it happens.

I’ve decided a good day to weigh myself is Thursday. Monday weigh-ins suck because, well, it’s Monday. Need I say more? A midweek weigh-in didn’t feel quite right either, so I plumped for Thursday – beyond hump day (no, not that kind, sadly…) but before the excesses of the weekend kick in. Okay, so weekend excesses shouldn’t really be part of the plan anymore, and I’ll endeavour that they are not, but I think out of the whole week, weekends are more likely to be days where a treat is allowed.

So, what was the result? Well, so far I’ve lost 4.4lbs, hurrah!! To be fair, that is for more than a week, because I think my last official weigh in was last Monday, rather than Thursday, but no matter, I’ll take it. What pleases me more than anything is that I’ve not been eating ‘perfectly’, and anyway, what does that mean?

Well, I have a few thoughts /I’ve made a few decisions in terms of my ‘diet’ and here they are, in no particular order:

1. I’m not on a diet, this is a new way of life;

2. No more ‘I’m never eating anything sugary EVER AGAIN’ (to be shouted triumphantly from a rooftop with a smug look upon one’s face). Yeah, like that ever works. I’ve only said that about, oh, a million times in the past, and i’m still beach-ball shaped. Coincidence? No. So I’ve had the odd sweet-treat this week (hence the ‘not been eating perfectly’ comment above), but on a vastly reduced scale from my usual diet. Knowing I can have it, if I REALLY want it, means I’ve not been so fussed about having it;

3. Drink lots of water;

4. Think of food in terms of what will help me achieve my goal, what will delay my goal (thanks for that one Rob!);

5. Plan out my food for the day / week. I do SO much better if I think about every eventuality in a day – when am I most likely to want to gorge myself on sugary shit (mid-afternoon). What can I do to avoid that (bring something else to eat);

6. Don’t keep temptations around;

7. Wait for a while after I’ve stopped eating to see if I really am still hungry. Guess what? I’m not;

8. Accept help from anywhere and everywhere. I’ve had so many lovely messages and chats with pals offering support and advice, it makes a massive difference. I must admit I used to think that it would be more of an achievement if I did this all on my own, but actually, who cares. As my lovely pal Tracy said ‘you don’t get a medal for doing it on your own’. Well put, bawbag;

9. Take it one day at a time;

10. Cook everything myself and avoid processed food. To be honest I generally do this anyway;

11. Look at the positive, not the negative. In my last post I talked about putting up these hellish pictures of me from the Outlaw as inspiration but again my pal Tracy pointed out that looking at the negative isn’t a good idea. Why not put up pictures to aspire to?

I guess that list is a bit random, but they’re all things I’ve been thinking of/using this week to try to help me on my plight to anti-beachballness. I know in the past, I’ve had this idea in my head that I need to eat ‘perfectly’ to shift the weight. Of course I could never have actually told you what that even meant, so I was unlikely to be able to actually do it. For me though, what I really want is to eat real, natural food (meat and veg and fruit etc. that I can make into meals myself, not chemically covered processed crap). I want to be able to have a dessert sometimes, or a bar of chocolate, but knowing that those times are in the minority, and are seen as an occasional treat, not the norm. I want to stop the sugar slumps that leave me tired and brain-dead. I want to feel as though I have the energy to get off the sofa and go do some exercise, which in turn will make me feel even better.

So my first week is over, and I’m happy with how it turned out. Next week I think will be harder – weight loss is unlikely to be as high, which is fine, but I need to be extra vigilant with my eating to ensure I give myself the best chance of losing more weight. I’ve also got a busy weekend ahead, so this will be a good test!

I’m also looking into other things such as nutrition plans and NLP which I think could help me in my quest, but I’ll write about that another time, when I know more about them.

Thanks to everyone for all the support and positive input this last week, it has really helped.

Onwards and upwards 🙂

Lost: Motivation. Reward for finding: Eternal gratitude

August 10, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, Random8 Comments

I’ve been meaning to write another post for ages, but somehow I just seemed to ‘forget’. Last week, or maybe it was the week before, I was really excited about something, and thought to myself “ooh, I must write a post about that”. For the life of me, I can’t even remember what it was that I was so desperate to write about.

I started this blog as a way of helping myself to do better, to be accountable and make a difference to my health and well-being. My intentions were genuine and urgent, and fuelled by a wish to really make the change that my life has been craving for years. So what happened? Apathy? Laziness? Well, I guess probably both. I’ve had a pretty quiet day today, which has been nice, and it has allowed me time to think. Why is it that when I have a ton of reasons to do something, and absolutely no viable reason not to do something, I still decide to take the latter approach? I’ve done a lot of things in my life which require effort, dedication and the will to keep going when it gets hard, and I’ve relished the challenge, and more often than not succeeded. However, when it comes to my weight, I can barely haul myself onto the starting blocks, far less spring out of them .

How do you turn motivation and intention into action? I’ve been thinking about this a lot too recently. I am overwhelmed by good intentions, and the desire to change, but utterly underwhelmed by turning those desires into actions. I keep asking myself why. Fear of failure? Yes, but I’ve failed at stuff before and then tried again and succeeded. Fear of success? Well, yes, to be honest. What if I lose loads of weight and nothing really changes? But you know, I’ve succeeded at many other things in life, and that hasn’t put me off. What about ingrained habits? Definitely. You’ll find me shovelling all manner of crap food into my mouth just because I’m bored, tired, happy, celebrating, not thinking, the day has a ‘Y’ in it…..

So, I’m rambling on, which is easy enough to do, I’m good at rambling. What I need to be good at, however, is taking action. Making changes. Banishing excuses. Working hard. Succeeding. So my biggest question is: where do I find the motivation to try a little harder, do a little better? Well, to be honest, I’ve been surrounded by a lot of motivation recently. If you can’t find what you need within, then look outside, right? I had the pleasure of attending the first day of the Diamond League athletics Anniversary Games in the Olympic Stadium a few weeks ago; watching Usain Bolt do his thing certainly makes you want to do better. Or how about my friend Carmen who swam the English Channel last week? I still can’t process that one to be honest; how on earth does someone actually manage that?! I can’t think of a bigger or more terrifying challenge, and one I can safely say I could never, ever do. Or another friend David who succeeded in winning his age group at Ironman UK, and won a place in the World Championships in Hawaii later this year? Boom!! Or indeed all my friends who completed the Outlaw this year, or ran ultra-marathons, or just faced personal challenges and met them face on, and dealt with them. You could look at these achievements and say “well, there is no way I could do that” or, more helpfully you could look at them and say “wow, those people have followed their dreams, so maybe I can too….?”.

Again though, I’m back to ‘how?’. Well, another thing I’ve realised I’m really good at is analysing everything to the nth degree. I read books, contemplate stuff, talk about it (“yeah, endlessly” I hear you cry…), mull it over, think about it some more, then decide to sleep on it, and put off doing anything until tomorrow. Okay, so thinking about stuff has it upsides, but it isn’t working for me, not in isolation. Let’s face it, if I could think myself thin, I’d be pushing Kate Moss out the way for a job. So, i’ve been thinking of ways to motivate myself, and help myself succeed.

For starters I looked at the photos taken of me running at the Outlaw. What a fucking sight (excuse the language). If ever I needed motivation, those hideous photos have done it. I’d put one on here, but I’m not paying £17.99 for the privilege, and I don’t want to incur the wrath of copyright lawyers by copying the picture here. Suffice to say if you dressed my swiss ball (see title pic ) in a wig and some yellow & black lycra, then you’ve got a good idea of what I looked like on the day. Not good. So I’m going to print a couple of them out and hang them round the flat just to remind myself why I need to act. Also, I figured a good way to make myself accountable, and to help motivate me try harder is to post my weight on here. It is utterly mortifying, but you know what?, I don’t look like a twig, so i’m sure it isn’t a shock for people who know me to know that I’m currently topping out at 16st 13lbs. Yep, it really is that bad. Nearly SEVENTEEN EFFING STONE!!!!! :O So every week I’ll post my weight on here, and use this blog as a tracker, rather than my diary. I’ve set myself some goals, and I’ll track them on here too:

Weight loss targets:
18 lbs by 30th October (in time for my holiday to Florida holiday, hurrah!)
30 lbs by end of the year
43 lbs by end February 2014
54 lbs by end of April 2014 (when I’m scheduled to run the Big Sur Marathon)

To be honest I need to lose more than 54lbs, but I’m happy with those targets to start with, and I can revise, update and add to them as I go.

I’ll be perfectly honest – I think the next couple of weeks will be HELLISH. I’m tired of planning and thinking though, so I’m moving into ‘doing’. I figure that trying to meticulously plan out the right way to do things isn’t working, so in the immediate future I’m just going to stop eating crap, reduce the amount I’m eating to adequate portions, drink lots of water and get back to regular exercise. I know myself that I will need a plan for the future, but I reckon that no matter what, the first few weeks will be hellish, so I might as well just suck it up and get them over with. Once I’ve started to lose a couple of pounds, i’ll respond better to a bit of structure.

I’m officially, and publicly, giving myself a kick up the arse.

I’ll be back next week to report on my weight loss.

Toodle-pip folks, and have a great weekend 🙂

EXCITED!!!!!!!!

July 15, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, RandomTagged Big Sur Marathon, California, Sport7 Comments

So despite my earlier blogs laying out my plans to return to Ironman racing (and I use the word ‘racing’ very loosely), after last weekend’s run, I decided i need to shift the weight once and for all, and get a marathon finish to be proud of.

Soooooooooooo, i was really lucky to be able to sign up in time, but i’ve managed to get a place in the Big Sur Marathon in California next April 😀 Wooooooooo hooooooooooooooo! I am SO excited. This race has been on my ‘To Do’ list ever since I drove up the coast of California from LA to San Francisco and beyond. It is such a beautiful part of the world, so I cannot wait to return.

I’m going to have to work really hard for this though. It is a hilly race with a strict 6 hour cut-off. I’m confident I can do it though.

I realised that i’m not that excited about the thought of doing a full ironman any time soon, but this race really gets me smiling.

Roll on Big Sur 🙂

(photo is Copyright of http://www.bsim.org)

Not to wheat….

July 14, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, RandomTagged Food, Gluten, Gluten-Free, Gluten-free diet, Health, Wheat5 Comments

….is the answer.

I decided to try a little experiment. Having mentioned in an earlier blog that I’m curious about the effects of wheat in my diet, I thought the best way to tell if it really bothers me or not is to eat it for a couple of weeks, note the effects then cut it out, and note the effects. Well I’ve spent the last week and a bit eating wheat with gay abandon, and right now I feel like someone has stuck their hand in my abdomen and is squeezing my intestines and colon with all their strength. Not great.

I’ve been noting how I’ve felt this last week, but I think the notes from the last couple of days are more telling, because I felt rubbish for a few days after the marathon last weekend (mostly because of the heat) so I’m not even counting those. So what were my symptoms? Well, I’ve had lethargy, lack of concentration, headaches (both dull and piercing), eczema on my hands getting worse (lots of tiny little blisters), spots, digestive issues ranging from constipation & bloating to ‘omg i need to get to the bathroom NOW!’, and cramps in my lower intestinal area.

Could these symptoms be related to anything else? Quite possibly, but I’ve not been eating differently, other than quite a lot of bread/cake. It might be something else other than wheat, but to be honest if I cut out the wheat, then I’ll be cutting out all the crap that goes with it, so that should solve the problem. Will I lose nutrients if I cut out wheat? I don’t think so. The plan is to eat meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, and dairy. I know dairy can be quite high on the allergen list, but I’ll keep that in the diet for now, and see how I go. I’ll also eat rice, potatoes, quinoa and gluten-free oats, so I can get carbs from there (as well as the veggies), so I’m not really missing out. All the food I will be eating should have sufficient nutrients for me, and I can’t imagine I’ll be doing myself a disservice.

It will be tricky though, especially since I’ll be travelling with work for over half the week, eating in hotels and unable to bring my own lunch to work. I’ll do my best though, and I should be able to sort myself out.

What I’m not planning to do, long-term is replace bread/cakes with gluten-free versions. Firstly, these products tend to be really expensive for what they are, and secondly, they are still heavily processed and full of shit.

To back up the healthier diet, I’m also going to get back to the gym and devise a programme for myself. As fabulous as the sculpture in my photo is (taken in the gardens surrounding Beaulieu House in the New Forest), the aim is to look a little less like this, or rather a lot less like this.

I’ll report back in due course, and hopefully, when I do, my guts won’t feel like they’re in a vice anymore.

Enjoy the summer heat wave everyone 🙂

The kindness of strangers

July 9, 2013Posted in Pre-2018, RandomTagged Health, Heat, Marathon, Outlaw Triathlon, Pirates, Running, Sports, Supporters, Training, Triathlon9 Comments

Well, I did it. I managed to get round the Outlaw marathon on Sunday, but it wasn’t pretty. Not by a long shot. In fact, I would go as far as to say it was a fucking nightmare! In the run up to the event, everyone had been checking the weather forecast with trepidation. As the event was in the UK, it would be easy to think the worries stemmed from the possibilities of freezing weather, howling winds and pouring rain, but for once, this wasn’t the case. As it turned out, the 7th of July was one of – if not the – hottest days of the year *insert melted smiley*

We don’t do excessive heat in this country, well at least not at sporting events. Not usually. Everyone training for the Outlaw Ironman had been training through cold, wind, rain and snow all winter, so to say it was a shock to be competing in 30C in the shade is a bit of an understatement.

I wasn’t too nervous in the run up to the day, because I’d done the training, and my two longest runs of 18- and 20 miles had gone pretty well. I’m a bit of a slow coach, but I had estimated i take 5:45 – 6:00 hours to get round, and I was happy with that. The only other marathon I have completed I did in 6:55. Surely I could beat that PB? I mean, 6:55 is aaaaaages, so it shouldn’t have been a problem. Except I didn’t account for the heat, and neither had anyone else.

I was almost too embarrassed to put my time up here, but then again the results are public, and all my friends that were there know how long it took me – 8:09 in the end. Seriously. Slowest marathon of the day, and that is even including all the men and women who had already swum 2.4 miles and biked 112 miles. Disappointed doesn’t even come close. Now I know it was fecking hot, and I still finished, but everyone else had the same conditions to contend with, so I’m not a special case (no comments please! 😉 ). It almost felt as if it wouldn’t have mattered if i had done any training or not, and the worst thing is I feel that if I could go out and walk 26.2 miles right now it wouldn’t take me that long!!!! Well, maybe once my blisters have healed…..

I had a couple of really low points during the day, but I knew I was going to finish, no matter what. I’d been in a good frame of mind about the marathon in the run up, so it wasn’t a negative mindset that got to me. I think I just had no resilience to the heat. My 20 miler was done in temps of ~22C, so I thought i’d cope with the heat okay, but it really floored me. My hands puffed up to look like a pack of butcher’s sausages, and my feet felt as though they were going to burst. I tried to drink as much as i could around the course (there were aid stations every couple of kilometres) but it wasn’t enough, and i know I didn’t eat much – couldn’t face it.

So, what now? Well, as much as i’m a bit despondent about it, I can recognise the positives – I got round despite the heat, and I finished. I had a brilliant weekend away with friends – old and new – and I had a lot of good laughs. If you asked me now would I have done it if i’d known it would be that bad, then I would have to say yes, no hesitation. Why? Well, because even though I didn’t achieve what I wanted, it has made me reaffirm a lot of things – that I want, or rather NEED, to lose weight and get fitter. My body really suffered out there, and my lack of core strength really had me screwed towards the end when I couldn’t maintain good posture. The extra weight on my feet really didn’t help me, and while I got there, it would have been more manageable, and less taxing on my body if I was 4 stone lighter. So if nothing else, it will help me sharpen my focus. However, I need to review my long terms goals in light of the effect the heat had on me – i’m not sure an Ironman in Western Australia in the middle of their summer is such a blinding idea now….. Anyway, that’s for later…..

The biggest reason that I would do Sunday all over again, however, is because of the amazing support I got on the day, and in the run up to the marathon. I’m very proud to call myself a Pirate – a member of a ‘virtual’ triathlon club called the Pirate Ship of Fools. We all wear bright yellow kit with a black skull and crossbones on it – if you’re a triathlete reading this in the UK, i’m sure you’ll have seen some of us about, and possibly some international triathletes will have seen us too; we get about a bit 😉 Anyway, never have you seen a more motley crew, but never have you met a more supportive group of people. I can only blame the Pirates for getting me into triathlon in the first place, but secretly i’m glad they did. I’ve made a lot of fabulous pirate friends int he last few years, and look forward to making more in time. Running in the kit is a sure-fire way to get support from almost everyone. It was hard to run (okay, shuffle) a few feet without hearing someone shout and encouraging “Aaaaaarrrrgg!” at me. I spent some time walking with another triathlete who was really struggling with the heat, but was determined to keep up a strong walking pace in order to finish (he beat me, which I’m happy about!). He gave me a couple of salt tablets too which I was very grateful for. Another nameless lady walked with me and chattered for a few hundred meters when I was struggling a bit. I asked if she had friends or family taking part and she replied “two friends are doing it, but I like to support everybody”. I was also very grateful to my lovely friend Krista who popped up around the course and always knew the right thing to say, especially when I saw her at a really low point. I also have to mention all the event marshalls and volunteers without whom the race would not be possible. They are so encouraging and friendly, and I even got a lovely hug from a volunteer who seemed immune to the sweaty, stinking mess that I was. Finally I’m ever so grateful to a lovely man called Richard who went out of his way to offer support. I had been hiding in the shade while I waited for my friend Carolyn to finish the bike leg and hand over the timing chip. Richard was hiding from the sun too, and I found out that not only had he completed Ironman Austria the week before, but he intended to complete the Outlaw too. However, the sun was so hellish, that he decided to stop after the bike leg, being too tired to go on. No wonder after the week before! Anyway, he asked my name, and said he’d support me on the way round. So once I set off, I saw him after a couple of miles when he shouted my name from the top of a grass bank, then he wandered down to shout encouragement. I saw him again further round the course, and he told me to keep going. The third time I saw him, I was heading out for my second and final long loop, and definitely looked a bit despondent knowing I still had a long way to go, so he walked with me for a little bit, we chatted and I finally found out his name.

This is what I love about triathlon, and running events. People you’ve never met in your puff just look out for you and do their best to help you. If you’ve ever been out and watched a sporting event and cheered folk on, then thank-you. It means so, so much. I always try to smile and say thanks, but sometimes it is too hard to even speak, but believe me, I’m still grateful. It is no exaggeration to say I wouldn’t have got round the marathon without it. So despite the utter hellishness of Sunday, my memories of it will be happy. The pain will eventually recede, then I’ll get back to my plans and figure out what to do next. I know I swore on Sunday that I’d never do it again, but of course I will, because I’ve got to beat my time, and prove to myself that I can do better. Most importantly though, I’m looking forward to supporting at future events, because I want to repay the kindness shown to me on Sunday.

Happy days 🙂